Infinity Stones: Reality Stone

The Reality Stone allows its wielder to do some very bizarre things with Reality itself. The holder of the stone is able to break logic in such a way that could easily make 2+2=5. Another way to understand what its powers allow is to imagine that all of the universe’s physical laws are malleable. So, while gravity is a constant to everyone else, they would be able to increase or decrease its value within a given section of space. As with any of the stones, the power increases with the physical or intellectual capabilities of its holder. Small scale powers such as raising the dead or rendering space incomprehensible, are just the tip of its metaphorical iceberg, compared to the largest scales imaginable, universal manipulation is possible.

Originally created when Nemesis destroyed itself; the Elders of the Universe bound all the Stones together to defeat Galactus initially. When the Elders ultimately fell, the Reality Stone then resided with the Collector. Yet Thanos inevitably obtained all the stones, as well as the Gauntlet, and the ensuing Infinity Wars began.

Aether Being Released by Malekith

King Bor Hiding the Aether

Jane Stumbling upon an Apparently Poorly Hidden Aether

Malekith Attempting to Destroy the Nine Realms

Asgardians Entrusting the Collector with it’s Protection

Aether in its Containment

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU) the Reality Stone was created from one of the 6 singularities that predated our universe, it took shape as the Aether. A seemingly intelligent fluid that can expand unencumbered allowing for the wielder to literally be fused together with the substance in a symbiotic nature. Malekith, a member of the Dark Elves sought out the Aether in order to use it to return the universe to darkness by utilizing the Convergence. The Convergence is a lining up of the Nine Realms, which alter reality so that easy travel is permitted between them. Ensuing war between the realms continued until Bor, father of Odin, stole the Aether from Malekith. Being unable to destroy the Aether, Bor hid it away hoping it would never be found again. As time approached for the next Convergence, Malekith awoke from a deep slumber to once again attempt to destroy the nine realms and bring darkness to the universe. Having stumbled upon the Aether, Jane Foster becomes fused with it, and by accident, brings it back to Earth. Malekith gets his hands on the Aether for a second time and is eventually thwarted, and is slain by Thor himself. The Aether is contained once more and given to the Collector for safe keeping, seeing as the Asgardian vaults were already protecting the Space Stone.

When the Aether is introduced initially, we still have had no idea that Infinity Stones were in play. Only until the final end credit scene featured in Thor: The Dark World do we learn that in fact the Aether and the Tesseract were actually infinity stones. The Aether’s location is currently unknown seeing as we do not know if the Collector is in cohorts with Thanos to collect Infinity Stones. However, we do get another glimpse of the Aether in Thor’s vision in latest film Age of Ultron. The vision clearly shows the Aether reforming into the stone and joining the other stones in the Gauntlet…